Encyclopedia

DRIVERS: FRITZ D'OREY

After racing the ex-Chico LandiFerrari 375 extensively in South America, d'Orey came to Europe to race a Centro Sud Maserati 250F which he crashed in the 1959 British Grand Prix. He was then involved with Valerio Colotti's Studio Tecnica Meccanica after the Maserati factory team was closed down and raced a reworked Maserati 250F, which was renamed a Tec-Mec in the US Grand Prix at Sebring.

Having won a Formula Junior race at Messina, he was signed by the Ferrari sports car team for the 1960 season but he had a huge accident at Le Mans when he hit a tree. His condition was so serious that various contemporary publications erroneously reported his death. He spent eight months in hospital recovering.